One of the greatest fishing nations of the Earth cannot offer fresh fish to the locals or foreigners.
The answer to that is a resounding NO.
Yup, of course we´ll get flak for telling the truth here like elsewhere but our middle name is flak by this point so we don´t really care.
What we have here is the same “stuff the foreigners” shit found in many other places. Or did you read our story about the glacier travel company that never actually takes you to an actual glacier?
You did not? Then the search button is your best friend 😉
We´ve been traveling Iceland ourselves for the last three weeks to take it all in during hardcore winter. Visiting the few places open during seriously harsh winds from the North and already, in six cases, actually shoveling our vehicle out of heavy snow on that famous Ring Road. It worked because we´re a team of four able-bodied people. Anything less and serious trouble will descend sooner than later.
This trip is rather unusual as few locals ever venture much outside their “safe area” during winter. For while the local Dept. of Transportation does its best to keep the roads clear all year round that is simply not possible this far North in a large country populated by few and with weather more unpredictable than Donald Trump on steroids.
Anyway, back to the fish.
Having someone in the group ordering fish in eight different restaurants along the way, from Hvolsvollur in the South to Blonduos in the North, while also having a bona-fide director of a fishing company in the group, we have no hesitation in telling you that most fish get in the few open restaurants in Iceland will be frozen shit and who knows how long the product has stayed in the freezer.
We got frozen fish in Hvolsvollur, frozen fish in Klaustur, frozen fish in Hofn, frozen fish in Egilsstadir, frozen fish in Myvatn, frozen fish in Akureyri and seriously frozen fish in Blonduos.
How can we tell?
Well, that is tricky part. Unless you are a true connoisseur of fish or, like in our case, bring along an expert, you might never know you are getting some old piece of shit fish. There certainly is a slight difference in taste but you´ll only know if you eat fresh fish regularly. Which you probably don´t.
So, what´s the problem then?
Maybe that all the restaurants we mentioned above advertise their fish as “freshly caught” or “fresh fish” or “catch of the day” when it is anything but.
Yup, selling frozen stuff instead of the fresh option easily adds 40% more income to the local restaurant owners. Which some folks might see as a good thing. For us others…
* Why don´t we name the restaurants in question? Because we are a minuscule non-profit tiny blog and restaurant owners here usually have loads of money.
